Portland, Oregon is not synonymous with baseball. Professional baseball has been around in some form or another since 1890 – amateur teams date back to at least 1866. The longest running professional team in the Rose City was the Portland Beavers, a founding member of the Pacific Coast League in 1903 – the name “Beavers” did not come until 1906. The team would finish first only on rare occasions for much of its long history. The Beavers even occasionally changed their name to attempt to revise their standing. They also changed affiliations with major league teams on a regular basis. As a child, I remember them from their affiliation with the Cleveland Indians and Sam McDowell and Luis Tiant on the mound for the Beavs.

BASEBALL IN THE ROSE CITY

The original Beavers left for Sacramento in 1918, but were back the following year. The second iteration of the Beavers left in 1971 for New Mexico. Other Beavers teams came and went with the last PCL leaving in 2010 when the stadium was reconfigured for soccer – the Portland Timbers and the Major League Soccer is another story. There are major attempts to bring a MLB team to Portland with possible stadium projected in different parts of the city – an attempt to bring the Montreal Expos was thwarted by what is today the Washington Nationals.

Baseball is actually more than the Beavers in Portland, however.

A friend of ours is a baseball collector in extremis. We got to talking one day about history, cemeteries and whether there were any baseball greats ending their days in Portland. A quick internet search led to a day journey to a couple of locations where some of baseball greats are actually buried, entombed or simply at rest in the Rose City.

Oregonians who made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame are rare. None are buried in Portland. Our friend’s great uncle is actually the only Oregonians who is a Hall of Famer, Bobby Doerr, the longtime Second Baseman for the Boston Red Sox in the 1930’s.

WILHELM’S PORTLAND MEMORIAL MORTUARY

WAYNE TWITCHELL

The first player who we visited was Wayne Twitchell. I used to live across from Wilson High School in southwest Portland. Wilson fielded some of the best teams in Portland featuring two men who made a impression in the MLB. One was Dale Murphy and the other was Wayne Twitchell. Wayne was a pitcher who had his best years with the Philadelphia Phillies in the early 1970’s. He died of cancer in 2010 at the young age of 62.

THE MORTUARY

Twitchell is buried in Wilhelm’s Portland Memorial Mortuary. Wilhelm’s is built above the Oaks Bottom floodplain wildlife refuge. It extends upward for eight stories with over five miles of hallways. The complex was originally built as Portland’s first crematorium, opening in 1901. Over time, the complex added the huge mausoleum, it is Portland’s largest indoor privately-owned burial site.

To say it is easy to get lost in the hallways of Wilhelm’s is the truth. Stop by the reception desk in the Spanish Revival administration building first for a map of the complex. On the south side is the older crematorium building, the Rose Chamber. Walking up and down through these halls is a bit funky with dank smells, low lighting and lots of funerary niches for those long past.

Twitchell is in the newer wings of the mausoleum, a few wings away from the other two memorable baseball players who also are found here, Fielder Jones and Syl Johnson.

FIELDER JONES

Fielder Jones was the player manager of the 1906 Chicago White Sox. They are known as the “Hitless Wonders”. The team had a team batting average of only .230, but still pulled off a huge upset in beating the much better – on paper – Chicago Cubs in the World Series. Playing in that World Series, Fielder hit only .143 (3-for-21) but scored 4 runs and stole 3 bases, a true victory for “small ball“. He played in the major leagues from 1896 to 1900 with the Brooklyn Bridegrooms-Superbas, the team eventually transforming into the Dodgers. He then went to the Chicago White Sox in 1901 adding managerial duties to his centerfield playing position. Retiring in 1908, he came out to Oregon working in the lumber industry.

second baseball life

Not able to get baseball out of his system, he managed the Oregon Agricultural College – today’s Oregon State University – team during the 1910 season. In 1914, he joined the new Federal League as player-manager of the St Louis Terriers, though he served mainly as team manager for that and the next season at over 40 years of age. The Terriers only lasted two years, but Fielder was brought over to the St Louis Browns when the Terriers owner bought that team in 1916. He went on to manage the Browns until 1918. His managerial record over ten years was 683-582 for a .540% win percentage. On the field over 15 seasons he played in 1788 games, hitting .280 though his on base average was .368.

SYL JOHNSON

Sylvester “Syl” Johnson played baseball from 1922 until 1940 with the St Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies. Over 19 seasons as a pitcher, his record was 112-117 with an ERA of 4.06. His best years were with the Cardinals from 1929 through 1931. He pitched in three World Series games with the Cards being the losing pitcher in one of them – the 1931 Cardinals were the only time Johnson played on a World Championship team. After his baseball playing days, he scouted for the Yankees and the Dodgers for many years while working with construction and on his berry farm outside of Portland.

OUTER SOUTHEAST CEMETERIES

SAMUel CLIFF CARROLL

Heading out to outer southeast Portland for more baseball lore. Up on the slopes of the extinct volcano of Mt Scott are two large cemeteries – Lincoln Memorial and Willamette National. Lincoln Memorial features Cliff Carroll. Carroll is definitely “old school” having an elven year career with teams like the Providence Grays, Chicago Colts, Washington Nationals, St Louis Browns and, finally, the Boston Beaneaters. His best-known years were probably with the Grays – in 1884, the team won an unofficial version of the World Series – officially, the World Series did not become official until 1903.

No more shirt pockets on baseball shirts

One of his better-known moments came in St Louis in the American Association.  During a game against the Baltimore Orioles, which the Browns eventually won 13-4, he had trouble fielding a grounder.  The ball bounced up a hit him in the chest – players did not use gloves in those days – and it got lodged in his shirt pocket.  By the time he got the ball out, the hitter had reached third base.  The Browns owner, Chris von der Ahe was so upset by Carroll he fined him $50 and suspended him for the rest of the season without pay.  The suspension was upheld by the league – players had very little power in those days.

Having enough of von der Ahe, Carroll signed the next year with the Boston Beaneaters – today’s Atlanta Braves.  At 33, he started for the pennant winning team and played 120 games over the season.  Age was catching up to Carroll, however, as he had his lowest batting year of his career hitting on .224.

He played a couple games the next year before hanging it up.  In his later years he moved to Albany, Oregon working as a fruit farmer.  He died in Portland in 1923 leaving behind a baseball memorabilia collection and a 280-acre farm.

Carson “Skeeter” Bigbee – beginnings

In the large neighboring Willamette National Cemetery, we find the grave of Carson Bigbee.  Nicknamed “Skeeter” for his small size as a high school – in Albany – football player with lots of speed.  He and his three brothers all played on the baseball and basketball teams for the high school, as well.  Coming from a family of teachers, Carson went to the University of Oregon in the fall of 1912, playing all three sports again with his brothers.

Bigbee played with the Tacoma Tigers during the summer of 1916 becoming a local star.  The Pittsburgh Pirates bought his rights for $5,000 with Carson giving himself two years to make it in the major leagues.  Otherwise, he was going to return and work on the family peppermint farm.  But not only was he determined to make it in the big leagues, he was determined “to be a first-class player or quit entirely.”

major league

Late in the summer of 1916, he had his debut at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh against the New York Giants.  Two hits and a walk in three appearances later molded him into the Pirates plans.  1917 did not go well for Skeeter, however, with injuries and tonsilitis hampering him, he only hit .239 on the last place finishing Pittsburgh team.  The next season saw him in 92 games as he increased his average to .255.  Liable for the draft at season’s end, he enlisted in the Army Coast Artillery at Fort Stevens near Astoria, Oregon.  The war soon over, discharged in December he returned to baseball.

Now started the heyday of his career with the Pirates as his hitting, base stealing abilities and speed in the outfield helped a Pirates team climb to finish second in 1921 – Bigbee hit for .323 that year.  The next year, he hit for .350, the best of his career.  Sinus problems led to a decline in his play and role on the team after 1922.  By 1925, Bigbee served only as a part-time player when the Pirates made it to the World Series against the Washington Senators.

immortality

In the seventh and deciding game, he hit a double scoring the tying run.  He eventually scored the winning run giving the Pirates the championship. The next season, Bigbee found himself released after running into problems with the manager. After two more seasons in the PCL, baseball was over for Skeeter.

Following baseball, he worked on a grapefruit farm for a few years returning to Portland to work as a car salesman and later in the shipyards during World War II.

One last fling with baseball occurred in 1948 and 1949 when he managed two teams in the All-American Girls Professional League not very successfully.  Returning to Portland after his last fling in baseball, Carson lived on until the fall of 1964 when he died at 69.  Over 11 years in the major leagues, he hit for a career average of .287 through 1,147 games.

INNER EASTSIDE

ARTIE WILSON

Before moving to the westside of Portland, one other baseball player needs to be visited, Artie Wilson.  Artie only played in the MLB one season for the New York Giants in 1951.  He also played in the Negro American League from 1942 until 1948 for the Birmingham Black Barons.  Named the league All-Star shortstop four times and hit .402 in 1948, the last hitter to do so.

After the 1948 Negro World Series – Birmingham won the league championship in 1943, 1944 and 1948 never winning the Series, however – he led the Mayaguez Indians to their first championship in Puerto Rico.  His contract purchased by the New York Yankees in 1948 to keep him from going to Cleveland.  Salary problems led his contract to being sold on to the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific League, the team’s first black player. He became the roommate of Billy Martin and won the PCL batting title with a .348 average and 47 stolen bases.  In 1950, he helped Oakland win the PCL championship.

one and done

The following year, the New York Giants called up Artie, but he struggled hitting only .182 in only 22 at bats.  He finished his career back in the PCL – the Giants cut him to make room for Willie Mays on their roster – with the Oaks, Seattle Rainiers. Portland Beavers and Sacramento Solons finally ending his baseball career with the Beavers in 1962.  Artie’s resting place is in the northeast Portland Rose City Cemetery.

LONE FIR FAMILY

Closer to the Willamette River is the Lone Fir Cemetery. Eastside Portland has always run second best to the westside.  Cemeteries are no exception.  The elite of Portland lie in state in the hills above the Willamette in the sprawling River View Cemetery.  For many, River View remains the place to end it at.  Lone Fir was originally built to house victims from a steamboat explosion in 1854.  The cemetery came to house many important residents of the Rose City – governors, mayors, congressmen and one senator – just not as many as River View.

The cemetery was called Lone Fir because there was originally only one fir tree on the acreage, though today, there is a veritable forest.  In the 19^th century, Lone Fir was on the city limits, a border advancing far to the east with the years.

JIGGS PARROTT

In Lone Fir, rest the only two native-born Oregonians who played in 19^th century major league baseball, both brothers, both from Portland.  Jiggs Parrott and his brother Tom each played for three years, both started with the Chicago Colts – one of the names eventually giving way to the Cubs of today.  Jiggs played mainly third base for the Colts.  He played for three years with his last season moving to second base.  Major league pitching always was a little too much for Jiggs who kept his position through expert fielding.  

Gone after 1895, he played one more season in the minors before dying in 1898 from tuberculosis.  The local paper, the Oregonian described his funeral as “the largest private funeral that has occurred on the East Side for many years.”

bROTHER TOM

Brother Tom followed Jiggs to the Colts in 1893 pitching four games for Chicago before the National League president ruled his contract actually belonged to Cincinnati.  Moving to Cincinnati was a good move for Tom who was 0-3 with the Colts but went 10-7 with the Reds.  A colorful player throughout his career, he had a better bat than his brother Jiggs.  In 1894 he pitched to a 17-19 record but hit .329 and played every position except catcher.

Arm problems started in 1894 with all of the work he received.  Continuing in 1895 where he still pitched in 41 games to a 11-18 record while also playing at first base and the outfield hitting at .343.  But at the end of the year, he was traded to the hapless St Louis Browns.  He played the 1895 season with the Browns who went 40-90.  Parrot was their leading batter hitting .291 while serving as the lead cornetist in the brass band team owner von der Ahe served up at his horse track.

after baseball

He would continue to play ball over 18 years drifting throughout the country playing for more than 20 teams.  Ball and music were always his life. His father ran a music store leaving the family farm near Newberg, Oregon – there is a Parrot Mountain there. Along with the store, his father started a successful brass band in which the family took part – Tom on the cornet. After baseball ended in 1907, Thomas fell back on music.  His ball career ended in Galveston, Texas, where he lived for some time, but after his wife died, he moved back to Oregon dying ten years after her in 1932.

RIVER VIEW CEMETERY

CARL MAYS

Moving to the west side of the Willamette River, we head up into the hills above the river. Here, in response to Lone Fir beginning to run low on spaces available, a group of Portland’s elite families got together forming the River View Cemetery Association.  River View has remained the home of the High and Mighty since that date in 1882. In River View, a ball player who should probably be in the Hall of Fame rests.   One pitch ended up being the difference for Carl Mays between a date with Cooperstown or not, the pitch that killed Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians.

Mays with the red sox

Carl played fifteen seasons in the major leagues, starting his career pitching alongside Babe Ruth in Boston for the Red Sox.  The two men were teammates with the Red Sox farm club in Providence, the Grays and both called up for the final week of the 1914 season in Boston.  Mays went 6-5 with a 2.60 ERA his first season with the Sox and appeared in 38 games, mostly in relief during a pennant winning year for Boston.  Boston went on to win the World Series 4-1 over the Philadelphia Phillies though May did not get a chance to pitch.

That changed in 1916 when he started 24 times making another 20 appearances from the bullpen.  He won 18 games with a 2.39 ERA.  In the Series, Boston won again, this time against Brooklyn and Mays recorded one save and one loss.  In 1917 he had the third-lowest ERA with 1.74 and winning 22 games. 

Carl was a submarine-style pitcher with a tough delivery style for hitters to figure out, his knuckles scraping the ground at times as he whipped in his speed.  His ball would come in low and hitters tended to hit the pitch into ground outs.  A very abrasive player, disliked by players throughout the league and not even liked by players on his own team.   “I have been told I lack tact, which is probably true, but the is no crime.” he said at one point.

endo of one era and beginning of another

The Red Sox were back in the World Series in 1918 against the Chicago Cubs and Mays started and completed two games winning both 2-1 as Boston was champion once again.  The following year, Mays ran into adversity with the fans, on the field and ended being traded to the Yankees for two pitchers and $40,000 in cash.

A year later, Ruth came to the Yankees for a straight up cash deal of $100,000 – a loan deal of $350,000 also included for the cash-strapped Red Sox owner in debt with his Broadway productions – to the Yankees.  The Red Sox would not win the World Series again until 2004 and superstitious fans called it the “Curse of the Bambino” because of the 1920 sale of Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  The Red Sox were doomed after Mays left, however.  Ruth’s sale just reinforced the curse.

Mays withthe Yankees

Mays was a phenom for the Yankees winning 26 games in 1920 and 27 in 1921 (with 7 saves). Plus, like Ruth he could hit going for a .343 batting average in 1921 (his career average was .268).  The problems all fell back to the day he hit Ray Chapman, shortstop for the Cleveland Indians 16 August 1920.  Many thought he should be thrown out of baseball.  Many considered him a dirty pitcher trying his best to scuff up a ball or throw a spitball.

twilight years

Carl had a downturn in 1922 going 13-14.  After the season, there were rumors the Yankees were trying to get rid of Mays.  Manager Miller Huggins simply did not use Mays much during 1923, a year the Yankees won the World Series.  Mays was sold to the Cincinnati Reds at the end of the year.  He played for the Reds for five years – recording a 20-9 record in 1924 – before ending hi career with the New York Giants in 1929.

Two more seasons of pitching in the minor leagues were followed by 20 years as a scout for curiously, Cleveland, as well as Milwaukee and Atlanta.  He has one of the best records for a pitcher not selected for the Hall of Fame, where he would be but for one pitch.  15 years:  207-126 ERA .292; Four World Series where he went 3-4 with an ERA 2.35.

JUST DOWN THE HILL …

Just down the hill from River View Cemetery is the Riverview Abbey Funeral Home.  Originally just a mausoleum that has added a crematorium and a funeral home to the mix since its inception in 1916.  Over 35,000 remains are housed here at Portland’s second largest mausoleum.  One man here played in the majors from 1923 until 1933, Harry Rice. 

HARRY RICE

Rice joined the St Louis Browns late in 1923.  These were not the same hapless Browns which Cliff Carroll or Tom Parrott played for.  They had finished second in 1922, but they were loaded with talent including future Hall of Famer George Sisler.  Alas, in 1923 the Browns began to slip backwards again as Sisler had to miss the entire season due to injury.  Rice stuck with the Browns as they improved the following season as he hit .280.  The next two seasons, Rice became a star for the Browns hitting .359 in 1925 and .313 in 1926.  Another good season in 1928 before he was traded to Detroit as the Brownies began a freefall towards a perennial cellar in the American League – which the club seems determined to repeat history in Baltimore as the Orioles today.

AWAY FROM THE BROWNIES

A couple of good years hitting over .300 as a Tiger before he came to New York playing in the outfield alongside Babe Ruth and Earle Combs. He only played one year with the Yankees and that year was during the heyday of Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics short run at the top.  Harry hit .298 for the season but was waived by New York at the end of the season. 

Picked up by the Washington Senators, he was having a slower season for him in 1931, hitting .265 over 47 games before he was traded to the minor league Baltimore Orioles of the International League for the young talented Monte Weaver who went on to several great years pitching for Washington.

Rice would play professional ball until 1941, but only made it back to the major leagues playing with the Cincinnati Reds in 1933 when he hit .261, the worst season of his career.  After baseball, Harry died in Portland in 1971.

NORTHWEST HILLS

Baseball drives us further out along the West Hills of Portland to the northwest brings you to another large cemetery of a more recent vintage – founded in the 1950’s – Skyline Memorial Gardens.  There are two more recent ballplayers interred here. 

JERRY ZIMMERMAN

First, Jerry Zimmerman, who was a catcher for eight years in the bigs.  He left Portland for a life in baseball reaching in 1961 a place with the Cincinnati Reds after nine years toiling in the minor leagues.  The Reds were in the World Series that year against the Yankees – they lost in five games – and Jerry go on the field briefly twice.  Never a great hitter, his specialty was defense and his ability to handle pitchers.

Traded to the Minnesota Twins, he played the rest of his career with them, again getting to the World Series in 1965 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.  He took a small role again in two games, even getting to bat once.  An ironman in 1967 taking part in 104 games, dropped off to a mere 24 in 1968, his last season at age 33.

He was not unemployed long as his old minor league coach Gene Mauch made him the bullpen coach of the Montreal Expos from 1969 until 1975.  Mauch was fired but moved to Minnesota as manager and Zimmerman followed coaching from 1976 to 1980.  He went on to scout for the Yankees and Orioles before retiring from baseball back to Portland.

stEVE OLIN

The other young man here at Skyline is Steve Olin.  Olin was a young baseball player who grew up in Portland. He was a relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians from 1989 through 1992 – his last season recording 29 saves.  During their one day off at Spring Training in 1993, Olin was on pitching teammate Tim Crews’ boat with Bob Ojeda.  They circled a small lake next to Crews’ home in his bass boat and in the darkness ran into a neighbor’s dock. Crews and Olin died instantly, while Ojeda, slumped in his seat got away with only a few cuts and bruises.

Olin was a submarine-style pitcher with a heavy sinker pitch but also a curve and a change-up.  The organist in Cleveland would play “Yellow Submarine” when he would enter the game – similar to how Ricky Vaughan was introduced with “Wild Thing” in the movie Major League.  The Indians wore a patch bearing the numbers of Olin and Crews through their 1993 season in honor of their lost mates.  They would not have another day off during Spring Training in the next seven years.

SUBURBIA

lARRY JANSEN

Further out in Washington County – Ok, we are leaving Portland but not baseball for these last two men – in the little Visitation Cemetery in the farm hamlet of Verboort is the grave of Larry Jansen.  Jansen was a pitcher mostly with the New York Giants staying in the bigs for nine years.  Another year, with his career numbers and he might have been a candidate for the Hall of Fame like Mays.

He came up with the Giants in 1947 after learning how to master a slider enjoying 21-5 record with a 3.16 ERA.  Normally, he would have easily won the Rookie of the Year award, but 1947 was also the year Jackie Robinson came onto the scene.  Even then, the voting was fairly close.  Jansen was an all star in both 1950 and 1951 for the Giants, going 19-13 and 23-11 respectively.  He was the winning pitcher in the 1951 playoff game with the Brooklyn Dodgers in which Bobby Thomson hit his “Shot Heard Around the World” in the ninth inning to win.

“i GOT YOUR LAST ouT”

The Giants did not win the World Series that year. Jansen took part in three games against the two-time defending Yankees.  He started two games losing as the Yankees won a third straight crown 4-2 over the Giants. That was the last Subway Series the Giants would appear in.  The two teams met again eleven years later but the Giants had moved to San Francisco.

While losing Larry did have one moment of trivia history.  Pitching in the sixth game in relief, in the eight inning, Joe DiMaggio got what proved to be his last hit off Jansen, a double.  The next hitter tried to bunt DiMaggio to third, but Larry threw him out.  Whenever they saw each other in the future, Joe liked to say, “I got my last hit off you.” but Larry would counter, “That’s all right.  I got your last out.”

cOACHING CAREER

Arm and back problems crept up during the next two seasons. He played only a small role in the 1954 championship year.  He was on the coaching staff by July of that year.

Attempting a comeback, he toiled in minors with Seattle in 1955 and 1956 when his contract was picked up by the Cincinnati Reds.  With the Reds he finished his major league career 2-3.  Back with Seattle the next year, he combined pitching with coaching. Then staying in baseball, he moved on to Portland for two seasons. Next, was a return to San Francisco for an eleven-year run as pitching coach developing such greats as Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal.  When the Giants let him go in 1971, he joined Leo Durocher, his old Giants coach. With the Chicago Cubs, he coached two years before retiring to his home in Oregon surrounded by his ten children and innumerable grandchildren working in real estate.

A BIT FARTHER AFIELD

wILLIAM sULLIVAN, sR.

McMinnville, Oregon is somewhat stretching the baseball Portland theme. But only because here is a close friend and teammate of Fielder Jones, William Sullivan.  Billy played 16 years in the major leagues.  He is the quintessential catcher. That meant he could not hit, but was played for his management of pitchers and his defensive prowess.

He came up with the Boston Beaneaters – now, the Atlanta Braves – in 1899 playing for them for two seasons.  Jumping to the Chicago White Sox in 1901 he had his best years running from 1901 until early 1915.  A short trip back to the minors and one final game as a Detroit Tiger in 1916.

“HITLESS WONDER”

Sullivan was the archetypal player for the “Hitless Wonders” of 1906.  His two best batting years were with Boston where he threatened the .300 level.  With Chicago, he rarely hit much above .200, dropping below that figure in five of his seasons.  His son would also play catcher.  Unlike his father, he hit a respectable .289 over 12 seasons.  One quip went, if Bill Jr could field like his father and Bill Sr could hit like his son, they would make the “best catcher in the history of the game.” By playing with the Tigers during the 1940 World Series, he became a part of the first Father-Son combination to play in the Fall Classic.

As starting catcher for the White Sox in the 1906 World Series against the Cubs, Billy appeared at the plate 22 times, getting one sacrifice bunt and striking out 9 times – a true “Hitless Wonder”.  With Sullivan behind home plate, the White Sox won the American League pennant in both 1901 and 1906 – the World Series did not begin regularly until 1903.  They narrowly missed out in 1905 and 1908.  Two seasons during which he was injured – 1903 and 1910 – the team finished far out contention.

CHEST PROTECTOR PATENTED

He may not have been the first catcher to wear chest protection, but he was the first to get a patent for a chest protector in 1908.  He replaced Fielder Jones as player manager in 1909 when Jones got tired dealing with team owner Charles Comiskey.  Billy guided the team to a fourth-place finish before returning to catching duties only the next few seasons.  Injuries and age caught up with him and he moved from player to coach after 1912.  A short stint in the minors and a single game with Detroit as player-coach in 1916 ended Billy’s career in baseball.

Returning to Oregon, he ran a twenty-acre apple and nut farm – sharing one venture with Fielder Jones and Cub shortstop Joe Tinker.  He lived to just shy of 90 dying in early 1965.

Portland is not much of a baseball town.  But appearances are deceiving.  Plenty of baseball lore can be found in the towns – and nearby – necropoli.